Nowell-smith geoffrey luchino visconti biography

Italian theatre, opera and cinema director

For other uses, see Luchino Visconti (disambiguation).

Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (Italian:[luˈkiːnoviˈskontidimoˈdroːne]; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter.

Nowell-smith geoffrey luchino visconti biography

He was one of the fathers of cinematic neorealism, but later moved towards luxurious, sweeping epics dealing with themes of beauty, decadence, death, and European history, especially the decay of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Critic Jonathan Jones wrote that “no one did as much to shape Italian cinema as Luchino Visconti.”^[1]

Born into a Milanesenoble family with close ties to the artistic world, Visconti began his career in France as an assistant director to Jean Renoir.

His 1943 directorial debut, Ossessione, was condemned by the Fascist regime for its unvarnished depictions of working-class characters, but is today renowned as a pioneering